Keeping government regulation to a minimum is even more important for charities than it is for other sectors. Too much red tape destroys the very qualities that enable the institutions of civil society to address social needs in ways that government bureaucracies can't. Minister Kevin Andrews should be applauded for demonstrating his commitment to charities' independence in his recent remarks on what charity regulation might look like after the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) is abolished.

Passing a gay marriage law does not end the marriage debate, as the Prime Minister of France is discovering. Francois Hollande’s Socialist-led government has had to shelve plans to “update” family law after huge demonstrations in Paris and Lyon on Sunday against any further meddling with marriage and the family, Reuters reports.

Women embarking on a first marriage and planning to have children should not enter into a prenuptial agreement because it is likely to financially disadvantage them later, family law experts warn. Family lawyers report demand for prenuptial agreements has plateaued in the past 18 months, and is now declining slightly, as more firms refuse to draw them up because of the risk they will be overturned by the Family Court. Other family law specialists now charge up to $10,000 for a standard agreement to guard against the risk of a negligence claim if a prenup is successfully challenged.

Needle vending machines in the city's heroin hot spots will increase drug use and risk increasing the numbers of dangerous syringes discarded in the streets, residents and traders fear. The machines - which will allow addicts access to new syringes 24 hours a day - are planned for inner city suburbs like Richmond, Footscray, St Kilda and Braybrook.

It's cheap, it's addictive and its insidious reach stretches into the lives and homes of tens of thousands of Australians. It pays no notice of postcodes, ignores the make of the car in the driveway and gives no heed to the profession of those within.

A project partly funded by Australia to rebuild Cambodia’s dilapidated railway was deeply flawed, caused harm to thousands of impoverished people and contributed to the deaths of several children, an internal review has found. Thirteen-year-old Hut Heap and her nine-year-old brother Hut Hoeub drowned in a pond in search for water after their family was uprooted from their home to allow work to begin on the rail project in May 2010.